TURKEY. 



699 



not far distant when it will be rare even there. It I 

 is yet found occasionally in Carolina, Georgia and 

 Florida, more rarely in West Pennsylvania and 

 Virginia, and may be considered altogether extinct 

 in the remaining Northern and Eastern States. It 

 is occasionally brought to the New York and Phila- 

 delphia markets ; but a domestic variety, of a very 

 superior metallic tint, and closely resembling the 

 wild one, is more frequently sold in its place. 

 Wild turkeys feed on berries, fruits, grasses, in- 

 sects; even tadpoles, young frogs and lizards, are 

 occasionally found in their stomachs. The acorn 

 is their most general favourite ; but they prefer 

 the pecan nut to any other food. A common mode 

 of taking them is by means of pens, constructed of 

 logs, and covered at the top, while a passage is 

 made in the earth just large enough to admit an 

 individual stooping: Indian corn is strewed some 

 distance round to entice the flock, which, picking 

 up the grain, is gradually led towards the passage, 

 and thence into the enclosure, when they raise their 

 heads and discover that they are prisoners : all their 

 exertions to escape are directed upwards and against 

 the sides, as they have not sagacity enough to stoop 

 sufficiently low to escape by the way they entered. 

 The male is nearly four feet in length. The pre- 

 vailing colour of the plumage copper or bronze- 

 gold, changing into violet or purple. The ordinary 

 weight is from fifteen to twenty pounds, but some- 

 times reaches thirty or even forty. The female is 

 more plainly attired, and the medium weight about 

 nine pounds. The turkey, in its wild state, ap- 

 pears to be almost entirely confined within the 

 limits of the United States. A second smaller 

 species has lately been discovered in Honduras, dis- 

 tinguished by the greater brilliancy of the plumage, 

 and especially by ocellated spots on the tail. It 

 has received the name of M. ocellata. 



TURKEY. The extent and population of the 

 Ottoman empire, previous to its recent losses, 

 were estimated as follows: in Europe, 178,928 

 square miles (including Moldavia, Walachia, and 

 Servia, 52,600 square miles, population, 1,790,000, 

 which were only tributary provinces), population 

 9,393,000 ; in Asia, 425,000 square miles, popula- 

 tion, 10,290,000; in Africa (Egypt and Nubia), 

 300,000 square miles, with 3,114,000 inhabitants; 

 in the whole 900,000 square miles, 22,800,000 in- 

 habitants. Of these possessions, the African are 

 not only lost, but the Egyptian sovereign has be- 

 come the most formidable enemy of the grand seig- 

 nior, having, in the campaign of 1832, succes- 

 sively reduced Acre, Damascus and Tripoli. 

 Syria hag been restored, but Egypt is lost to Turkey, 

 Greece has been severed from the Turkish domin- 

 ions, and a boundary more favourable for the new 

 kingdom than that established by the protocol of 

 1830, has recently been procured by the three 

 powers from the Porte. This frontier line extends 

 from the gulf of Volo to the gulf of Arta, and an- 

 nexes Etolia, Acarnania, and part of Thessaly 

 (about 3000 square miles) to the kingdom of 

 Greece. The numbers of different races were, 

 Tartars, 8,525,000; Arabians, 4,449,000; Hel- 

 lenes (Greeks), 4,598,000; Sclavonians (Servians, 

 Bulgarians, Bosniacs, Croats, &c.), 5,926,000; Ar- 

 menians, 1,560,000; Walachians and Moldavians, 

 1,375,000; Syrians, 214,000; A rnaouts, 460,000; 

 Jews, 620,000; Curds, 1,000,000; Gypsies, 80,000, 

 &c. Of these, 13,552,000 were Mohammedans; 

 7,083,000 of the Greek church ; 1,483,000 of the 

 Armenian; 613.000 Catholics; 380,000 Monophy- 



sites; 300,000 Nestorians; 60,000 Druses, &c. 

 The history of the state has been given in the ar- 

 ticle Ottoman Empire. Moldavia, Walachia, Ser- 

 via, Egypt, Greece, Natolia, Syria, Bulgaria, Al- 

 bania, &c., are described in separate articles. 



Turkey in Europe is bounded by Russia, Tran- 

 sylvania, Hungary, Galicia, lllyria, Dalmatia, the 

 Ionian republic, Greece, the Adriatic and Ionian 

 seas, and the Archipelago. The command of the 

 Black sea the Porte shares with Russia. The 

 Bosphorus (q. v.), the sea of Marmora, and the 

 Dardanelles, are open to all merchant ships of na- 

 tions at peace with Turkey. The situation of the 

 country, with its long extent of coast and its nu- 

 merous bays, is favourable for commerce. It is 

 protected on its frontiers by the valleys of the Save 

 and Danube, and also by the Balkan (Haemus), 

 which extends from cape Emineh to the Illyrian 

 mountains, and which is connected with the Rho- 

 dope, the Pangaeus and other chains which intersect 

 Greece. Separate from these lies Monte Santo, or 

 Athos. See Athos. 



Turkey in Asia is bounded by Persia, Russia, 

 Arabia, and the isthmus of Suez, which connects it 

 with Egypt, and the Mediterranean sea. From the 

 mountains of Armenia flow the Euphrates and the 

 Tigris, which, uniting at Bassora, flow into the 

 Persian gulf. In Anadoli or Natolia, there is a 

 considerable river the Kisil Irmac (Halys) flow- 

 ing into the Black sea, and in Palestine the Jordan. 

 The latter falls into the Dead sea, a lake formed 

 by volcanic eruptions, fifty miles in length, and from 

 four to ten in breadth, whose waters are bitumin- 

 ous, saline, and sulphureous, and have no visible 

 outlet. The principal mountains are the Taurus, 

 in Natolia ; the Lebanon, in Syria ; the Antiliba- 

 nus, <fec. The most level province is Irak Arabi. 

 In the south-east, immense deserts extend into the 

 Arabian peninsula. The climate is temperate in 

 the northern provinces, mild and refreshing in the 

 central, and hot in the southern. The air of Me- 

 sopotamia is noxious, and there the debilitating 

 samiel (see Simoom) blows over burning deserts, 

 and the plague finds a home. Every region here 

 yields its productions in abundance. The staple 

 articles of export are wheat from Rum-Hi, rice 

 from the countries on the south of Ha^mus, cotton 

 and tobacco from Macedonia, silk from Arnaout 

 and Natolia, figs, saffron, gall-nuts and meerschaum 

 from Natolia, mastich from Scio, wine from Cyprus, 

 Angora hair from Natolia, naphtha from Mesopo- 

 tamia, wool from Walachia, &c. In addition to 

 these, opium, Lemnian earth, saltpetre, and marble, 

 especially the Parian, are among the exports. 

 Mining is totally neglected, and there is, in general, 

 little manufacturing industry in the country ; there 

 are, however, some traces of skill in the prepara- 

 tion of saffron, the dyeing of yarn (especially in 

 Thessaly), the manufacture of cotton cloths, car- 

 pets and works of steel (particularly excellent 

 sword-blades). The Turks despise agriculture, 

 and leave it to the conquered nations, whom they 

 plunder when they find them to be wealthy and 

 prosperous. It is only where the barbarians have 

 no power, as in the country of the Druses, on mount 

 Lebanon, or have not appeared, as upon some of the 

 islands of the Archipelago, that successful industry 

 is to be found. In Asia, agriculture is attended to 

 only in the neighbourhood of the cities : the wide 

 plains on the banks of the rivers are covered with 

 bands of wandering robbers. 



The people of this vast empire consist of a mini- 



